Let me try again. You and I are generally aligned on the view that the Dems abandoned labor-focused politics out of short-sighted political considerations that hollowed out their strength as a political party. You can point out evidence of earlier shifting toward the "center," but i think this essentially began in earnest with Clinton's election in 92. The Dems hadn't won the white house for three elections and so when Clinton won while triangulating*, Democratic leadership (with a nice push from corporate lobbyists) took the lesson that triangulation is what wins them elections. I don't know where "and used representational issues and language policing to acquire the moral license to do it" fits into this story, but it sure isn't in 1992 or 1996.
* of course, none of them ever thought to ask if triangulating actually won Clinton the election or if he was just the lucky beneficiary of the right's coalition falling apart for reasons that had nothing to do with him.